Tuesday, February 13, 2007

DURHAM, N.H. -- In his first stumble, White House hopeful Barack Obama on Monday took back words from the day before, when he said the lives of U.S. soldiers killed in Iraq were "wasted."

Following his Springfield launch on Saturday, Obama wrapped up a three-day swing in the key primary states of Iowa and New Hampshire, ending at a University of New Hampshire rally where he assailed the "trivialization of politics" where "it is all about who makes a gaffe."

In this case, that would be Obama, the Illinois Democrat.

As I said in my yearly predictions, Barack will peak as a presidential candidate in 2007. While he may excite the media they are a fickle bunch, and will be just as happy when he falls. It's a story when he's on the rise, and a story when he's falling.

Besides, anybody that has a Messiah Watch out for him in the media can't be seen making any mistakes.

He hasn't peaked yet, and he did do a good job of rolling back from his statement, but it's just an example of a rocky road ahead of him.

My thinking is that he's not really running for the Presidency anyway (otherwise why keep repeating the phrase "I'm in it to win it?") Instead he wants the VP pick. It gives him instant credibility for the next open primary no matter who wins, and allows him to press the flesh among the national party apparatus.

My father thinks Bill Richardson fills that bill however, and that is already pre-ordained that if Hillary!TM wins, Richardson''s already got the nod.

Is it just me or are people way too over sensitive? If I had listened to that speech I wouldn't have thought anything of it. It seems like people are getting more and more over sensitive to these kinds of things. Of course he didn't mean their lives were 'wasted' in the sense that their lives had no value. You could definitely make the claim however, that they died for a wasted cause.

I know people will politicize this because people politicize everything. Even a remark that wasn't meant to cause any harm. Good post though; I'm definitely not shooting the messenger.